Romeo and Juliet, in Las Noches Two Lovebirds Met
by CodenameLan
Summary: Ulquiorra while visiting earth takes Orhimime, an apprentice Healer at a hospital he stays at to receive further training in Las Noches, when he realizes her potential. However, he falls in love. To what length will he go to protect her from Aizen?


A young man crouched on the top of a high stone barrier, surveying the city from his lofty perch. He leapt down, and gracefully landed on the ground after a twenty-foot jump. He had black hair, and black tears tattooed to his cheeks. His eyes were slanted like a cat's and they had some kind of pain embedded in their cold green depths.

Perhaps it was because I was staring, (or gawking), but he turned towards me.

"Hello, I am Ulquiorra Schiffer." He extended one hand, keeping another hand on his stomach.

"A-aren't you hurt!? How did you survive that jump?"

He only smiled, then I saw that his hand was still extended. Blushing, I shook it, apologizing for my rudeness. "I'm Orihime Inoue."

"Do you know if there is a hospital in this city?" He asked.

"Oh, yes, I work there—actually, I'm going there right now. Are you visiting a patient?"

"No." He simply stated. I waited for him to go on, but he didn't. I nodded, but did not pursue the matter.

"I can take you there, if you like."

He grinned and grimaced at the same time. "Thank you."

I immediately regretted it. He wasn't much of a talker—I filled the awkward silence with mindless pratter, and when I couldn't think of anything else to talk about, the silence was cold and dead. He kept his hand on his stomach, but I didn't ask why.

We arrived at the hospital entrance, and I left him at the receptionist's desk. I changed into my Apprentice's uniform, and made my way to the Permanent Care wards. I was an apprentice of healing under the great Healer Arihnae. I had been an apprentice for a long time, because my magic often went wrong. Therefore, I was put in Permanent Care wards, because the patients there had already been treated as well as possible, and just needed rest and some natural remedies.

I walked into the room a couple hours later (after completing some paperwork), and went immediately to the first patient I was assigned—he was new, he had been submitted just an hour ago after Healing to a sever wound in his… stomach. I looked up.

"We meet again." Ulquiorra nodded up at me.

"Hello, I'm your assigned caretaker. Let me see your wound."

Ulquiorra pulled up his hospital frock, revealing a half-healed stomach wound. I sighed. There would most likely be problems with digestion, stomach pains, and infections. What were the Healers thinking when they did this half-assed work!? I thought in indignation.

() () ()

It was midnight when I came to his room to check up on him again. To my surprise, he wasn't sleeping, but he lay awake, his unnerving green eyes bright even in the dark.

"I brought some tea." I whispered.

"Thank you." He replied. Then, he proceeded to ask me a question that caught me completely off guard. "Can you heal me?"

I paused. "I am. Just eat the medicine and get good rest."

He shook his head. "I mean, with your spirit energy."

I laughed. "I don't have enough spirit energy to heal. That's what we have the higher-ups for."

He only gaped at me. "What do you mean? I can see your spirit energy is obviously a hundred times more than the amount that those Healers have. What makes you think you don't have enough?"

"Well," I started, "I can't control what I do. If I tried to heal your stomach, for instance, I would probably just create another stomach inside you. That's not pleasant."

This time, it was Ulquoirra's turn to laugh. His sharp features softened, and I found myself blushing. "On the contrary, that's because you have so much healing power that instead of just healing the wound, you go beyond that, creating a new stomach to replace the damaged one. With the right training, you could learn to control that!"

I shook my head, not believing him. "Where did you get the ability to tell how much healing power I had? If you can tell, how come the higher-ups can't?"

"That's a secret—not something I can just tell to anyone."

"I'll heal you if you tell me how I can."

His eyes bored into mine for a moment, like he was trying to read my mind. I looked away, embarrassed and shy.

"Reach for your energy like you normally would. Have you ever studied human anatomy? Okay, that's good, that'll make this easier. Now, direct the amount of energy you would use to heal a cut or a scrape into your hand, and press it into my wound. Use your knowledge about healing and start from where your so called 'higher ups' left off. Heal the cut on my large intestine. Now, take the amount of energy you would use to heal a pin prick, and keep summoning the same amount of energy, little by little, continuously."

Three hours later, I was tired, his stomach was healed, and I looked at him in shock at my achievement, and he looked at me in astonishment.

"If you could only get proper training…"

My eyes brightened. "Where could I get trained? I want to develop my healing capabilities!"

"So you believe me now?" He mused.

"How could I not? After healing the first major wound without a mistake in my entire life?"

Suddenly, with blinding speed, and without disturbing the man with the broken leg who was sleeping on the other side of the room, Ulquiorra sprinted out of bed, and ran to the window, opened it, then jumped out. I covered my mouth, gasping. He had just jumped out of the seventh floor! I quickly made my way to the window, only to see him perched on the sixth floor balcony, rather than sprawled on the ground like a pancake. He waved, laughing at my terrified expression. He beckoned for me to jump. When I shook my head, he held his arms out and mouthed _I'll catch you_.

_No_, I mouthed back. He sighed, and adding shock to my already terrified expression, he climbed up the side of the hospital, his fingers finding easy grips on the rough stone building.

"Come with me, I'll take you to Master Aizen as gratitude for what you have done for me. We are in need of more skilled healers there. We have a vast library and you will be able to hone your abilities. Come with me!"

I hesitated only a little. I had no family in the small town, and very few friends. I had moved so much in the past, when my parents were alive that it would be no great pain to separate from the town after two years of residence.

I agreed, and together, we snuck out of the hospital, into the night, with nothing but some hospital sandwiches and patient pajamas in my bag.


End file.
